Top 10 Innovative Funding Methods for Public Libraries

Please list your ideas for innovative PRIVATE funding methods for public libraries - i.e. ways to make some bucks in your library, through corporations, etc.

Adopt a call number or section of the library - people can either "clean up" that section by making sure books are in correct order, or donate money to that section. "Decimal Dusters" American Libraries March 2007, 21. (LT)

Library fashion / art show - local designers / artists can donate their works and auction off (LT)

Offer ad space inside/outside library building (LT)

For the "one book / one community" programs, a % of sales of that book at local book retailers should go to the library Baldwin. "On My Mind: Why Stop at One City" American Libaries May 2006, 35. (LT)

Books2Eat - is an international movement for folks to enjoy food and books! Books2Eat International (www.books2eat.com) has the following rules:

Participation rules are as follows:

the event must be held on April 1st (or close to that date)

All edible books must be "bookish" through the integration of text, literary inspiration or, quite simply, the form.

Organizations or individual participants must register with the festival’s organization (go to Registration) and see to it that the event is immortalized on the international festival website [2]).

Other food contest: Have people enter food, like a chowder contest, and then charge admissions to the event, and have people vote for their favorite entry with dollars instead of ballots. (the entry with the most money wins! (This seems to get people to pay for their own entry again). (SR)

Partner with a local bookstore to get people's "points," or credits towards a free book. Have people donate their "points" to a library of their choice. (SR)

Collect donations for sale on ebay. Not just books, but items that people have that are too good to throw away, but don't want anymore. (SR)

Movie Night: Show a newly released or popular movie for free sell popcorn, candy and refreshments and copies of the DVD or book related items (new and weeded copies) in a small kiosk before the film. Contributions could go to DVD/Film Collection. Another take is to get a second run film and charge small amount (have movie houses like this in Portland, OR area, has to be cheap to get the film because the fee is like $2!)(SF)

The Gift that Keeps on Giving: Make a small donation of ($10-$150) and a Book, DVD, Music CD has a personalized sticker that could be customizable and choosen by the contributor along with a nice card honoring the contribution. Mother’s/Father’s Day, Christmas, Graduation Season (May/June). Based upon the fundraising campaign of Holy Cross. Holy Cross asks parents to make a small donation ($30-50) to the library which is used to a new book. Each book purchased with these proceeds has a personalized sticker of the graduate’s name, class, major, degree, etc. (SF)

Tap into “Cause-Related Marketing:” Forget our Competition, Partner with Them! Have a big corporate sponsor like Microsoft, Dell, Amazon, even Google! fund public libraries on a federal level. Businesses sponsor non-profits to create an honorable “do-gooder” image. This is alike to American Express encouraging card usage during one quarter of the year with a percentage donated to “Charge Against Hunger.” Other examples are Bank of America offering free tickets to their cardholders to a number of Museums and Nike supporting the Boys and Girls Clubs. On a smaller level Barnes & Nobles donates 25% of their profits to the Massachusetts Library Association during the weekend of National Library Week. The catch is a customer has to have a “coupon” dispensed at Massachusetts Public Libraries through a week or so before the scheduling weekend. This could be improved upon and Barnes & Nobles donates 10% of all profits to libraries during the month of April; forget the coupon dispensed at the library, the “donation” is automatic.(SF)

Wishing Well. If renovating or building a new library incorporate a “wishing well” structure. Have a Sign like: Books Change Lives, Make a wish with your spare change and Support your Library. This is quite lucrative see the article Wells Contain Money Mountainwhich states “those making a wish with their spare change literally throw away just under 3 million pounds every year, according to the "Fountain Money Mountain" report.” And on Flickr: “In the year 2002, the state library of Virginia, collected $142,000 from this Wishing Well! “ [3] and looks like Reno Library has one too: [4] (SF)

Establish an edowment for the library. The process fo raising the funds for this is long, but big businesses and wealthy members of the community to donate sizable amounts. Once the amount is met the library can secure their financial future and not be so dependent on the funding at the state and local level or can implement new programs/technologies that would have once been too expensive. (RG)

Create endowed positions--the donor's name would always be associated with the position: i.e. the William Smith Librarian of Programming and Technology.(RG)

Readathons where either: a. people can find sponsors themselves and if they read x they will get $X--this might be better suited for children and teens and might work well with summer reading programs. The money earned would go for a specific need in the library, i.e. if the kids are doing the readathon and the children's room is in disrepair, money earned would go towards transforming their space. b. library partners with community organizations and they donate so much if so many books are read, again there is a clear purpose for the money.(RG)

Suggested donations box at the entrance of the library and near where events are held. I saw this at the Seattle public library, they had a very catchy line on the box, which was clear, and there was quite a bit of money.(RG)

Have an annual appeals. (RG)

Look into the idea of people donating works of art, antiques etc. to the library that can then be auctioned off--I think this is part of estate planning and people leave these items in their wills to the libraries. I've seen it mentioned for PBS stations.(RG)

Have a sale where people bring in jewelry they no longer wear/like all proceeds go to the library.(RG)

Following the PBS model, have bookathons about twice a year where there is a goal amount the library is looking for, have a poster with how much has been raised so far.(RG)

Combining #4, #9, #14, Libraries partner with local and chain bookstores to bring more books into the libraries. This can be done by sponsoring a one book, one community read, collecting "extra points" given by the bookstores, or the stores donating a portion of proceeds on a given day. There are more ways that bookstores and libraries can work together to ensure mutual success.

Votes

LT- 1, 4 (9 & 14 can be related), 7, 12, and 15

RG- 1, (2& 7), 9, 14, 15

SF- 1, 7, 12, 15, 17

SR- 1, work on combing (4, 9, 14), 10, 12, 15

Please list your ideas for innovative PUBLIC funding methods for public libraries - i.e. ways to garner governmental support

Produce usable materials for government offices - I'm not sure how best to put this, but at Perkins BTBL, we produce all of the braille room number and representative name signs that go on the state house; they have our logo and so every day people see our logo as they walk around the state house. They also offer the dual purpose of making the state house more accessible to braille readers and are often requested when new staff arrive or people switch rooms (LT) Give pads of paper with annual report facts on bottom of sheets of paper and dispense to government offices. Newton creates these for patrons but not dispensed to government offices(SF)

Create "buy in" for local community when creating new changes - hold public contests to come up with new designs, get people invested in the decision so that they will (hopefully) work as advocates for the library to their representatives Burger "Construction Funding 101" American Libraries April 2006, 63.(LT)

Purposely close the library for a set period of time - create a media event, allow users who come to the library to document what it means to them to have a public library they cannot use because of reduced hours (LT)

Provide a fake bill to government officials for the rate of services the public library provides if they were a private institution. I'm not sure how to articulate this, but when I worked as a law librarian at a university, we used to provide the law professors at the school with fake bills of how much our research services would have cost if we were law librarians charging a standard rate at a private institution, it would both tick them off and blow their minds and how much these services are worth. (LT)

Storytelling Fundraising :Campaign using personalized stories from the library community that address current issues in the community. Identify users that would be willing to share their stories. For example interview an ESL Learner, Literacy Learner, Child learning to read, Pregnant Patron, Self-employed business person, etc. and have them explain the value of the library in their words. Take a picture. This personalizes the experience and can pick choose individuals that illustrate how libraries are for the public good. (Large immigrant community that is not fluent, show how library is teaching English; Illiteracy is high, show an individual who is improving their reading skills; Unemployment Rate is high, show someone who got a job using resume books and employment programs; Aging Community, show a senior who volunteers at the library). (SF)

Have local municipal government sponsor a book on the history of the town/county, with historical pictures and photographs. Proceeds of the sale of the book go the library. (SR)

Public service announcements televised at the local and national levels showing the importance of a "Good" library, services provided to the community, and the power of libraries to transform individuals and the communities they serve. Although this is not a "money-maker" it would give libraries exposure and hopefully create a dialogue about how to better fund them.(RG)

When state/national budgets are being prepared librarians could march to their state capitols, meet with representatives, senators, etc. and make the case that we need more money. (RG)

Ensure that libraries are constitutionally mandated by all states or at the national level, in this way governments would be responsible for providing a minimum amount of funding to all libraries.(RG)

Create a short dynamic presentation that brings to life your library's annual report to be given to legislators and can be shared with other stakeholders. Could be a powerpoint slideshow or a clip posted on YouTube and ends with proposals for the upcoming year allocation of funding to the library. This presentation illustrates how the money is well spent and will show how more will be used successfully. (SF)

During the time the budget is being prepared by legislators set-up "we support the library kiosks" in the library, other civic buildings like town/city hall, schools and perhaps high traffic areas like the local Target and supermarkets. Computers would defaulted to a capwiz (see: [5] ) or for those not comfortable with the internet have fill-in the blank paper that could be mailed. (SF)

Advocate for legislation for private funds to matched with public funds. This is based on Massachusetts legislation that passed last year.